Political Commentary

Most Recent Releases

June 17, 2013A Libertarian Turn on Marijuana Legalization, Same-Sex Marriage and Gun Rights By Michael Barone
Are Americans becoming more libertarian on cultural issues? I see evidence that they are, in poll findings and election results on three unrelated issues -- marijuana legalization, same-sex marriage and gun rights.
Start with pot. Last November voters in the states of Colorado and Washington voted to legalize marijuana, by a 55 to 45 percent margin in Colorado (more than Barack Obama's margin in the state) and by 56 to 44 percent in Washington.
June 16, 2013On Civil Liberties, Comparing Obama With Bush Is Easy -- and Mostly Wrong By Joe Conason
Nearly a dozen years after the passage of the Patriot Act, rushed through Congress in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, informed debate over the balance between liberty and security is long overdue. That includes a public examination of how widely and deeply the National Security Agency (and other elements of the "intelligence community") may monitor Americans' telecommunications without violating the Bill of Rights.
June 14, 2013High Heels and Workers' Rights By Froma Harrop
One of the strangest artifacts of American culture is the spiked heel as a symbol of female power. Many waitresses at America's casinos feel otherwise.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                
                
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                            June 14, 2013Distrust of Government Is What It's All About by Scott Rasmussen
Another week, another controversy in official Washington. While each of these stories has its own cast of characters and internal dynamics, it is now possible to identify a unifying theme.
June 13, 2013NSA Surveillance, If Ungentlemanly, Is Not Illegal By Michael Barone
"Gentlemen do not read each other's mail." That's what Secretary of State Henry Stimson said to explain why he shut down the government's cryptanalysis operations in 1929.    
June 13, 2013House Update: Tiny Movement Toward Republicans By Larry J. Sabato and Kyle Kondik
At this very early point in the 2014 race for the U.S. House, small Republican gains -- as in, less than five seats -- look likelier than a similarly small gain for Democrats. That’s because the Republican targets just look a little better than the Democratic ones.
June 12, 2013Terror and Safety By John Stossel
This week, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the National Security Agency's data mining violates our Fourth Amendment right to be "secure in their persons, houses, papers" and is "tyranny that our founders rebelled against." Good for him.  
June 11, 2013Prop. 13: Message for Another Time By Froma Harrop
If the national tax revolt has bookends, the first bracket was placed 35 years ago this month. That's when California voters passed Proposition 13, a law curbing tax increases.   
June 11, 2013Citizens Stand and Fight the IRS By Mark Meckler
The NorCal Tea Party last month filed class action litigation against the Internal Revenue Service in federal court in Ohio, based on the unconstitutional profiling and harassment of conservative, religious and other liberty-minded organizations in their applications for non-profit status.   By its own admission, the IRS has been profiling and discriminating against hundreds of groups based on their political viewpoint. 
June 10, 2013America Will Pay a Price for President Obama's Inaction in Syria By Michael Barone
Barack Obama's appointments of Susan Rice as national security adviser and Samantha Power as ambassador to the United Nations have naturally triggered speculation about changes in foreign policy.  
June 7, 2013Live From Istanbul: Authoritarians With Bad Taste By Froma Harrop
Anti-government protests in Turkey have produced a social movement like no other. The lit match was not the death of a heroic dissident, a corrupt election, high unemployment or the other usual-suspect grievances. It was the government's plan to replace precious park space in downtown Istanbul with a shopping mall and replica of army barracks from the Ottoman era.   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                
                
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                            June 7, 2013Odds Grow Longer for Immigration Reform By Scott Rasmussen
Many pundits assumed that this would be the year that comprehensive immigration reform became law. The conventional wisdom was that President Obama's re-election and his strong showing among Hispanic voters would force Republicans to go along.
Now, halfway through the year, the prospects for immigration reform have dimmed significantly.
June 6, 2013With Lautenberg Gone, WW II Vets Fade From Politics By Michael Barone
Over the last seven decades, 115 veterans of World War II have served in the United States Senate. This week, the last of them, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, died.    
June 5, 2013Austerity Myth By John Stossel
Europe's struggles prove that "austerity" fails!
So say the Big Spenders.
With a condescending sigh, they explain that Europe made deep cuts in government spending, and the result was today's high unemployment. "With erstwhile middle-class workers reduced to picking through garbage in search of food, austerity has already gone too far," writes Paul Krugman in The New York Times.
June 4, 2013Slower Rise in Health Care Spending Is a Big Deal By Froma Harrop
The sky isn't falling. The train is not wrecking. The end is not nigh. And to drag this out a bit, the tidings are not all bad.    
June 3, 2013Tragedy of Detroit Shows 'Big Unit America' Is out of Gas By Michael Barone
Detroit, once one of the nation's most vibrant cities, faces imminent bankruptcy. That's the headline from the report last month of emergency fiscal manager Kevyn Orr, issued 45 days after he was appointed this spring by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to take over the city's government.
May 31, 2013Watergate Amnesia, the 'Nixonian Slur and Other Big Lies By Joe Conason
Let's state this very simply, so everybody will understand. The notion that Barack Obama is "Nixonian" -- or that his administration's recent troubles bear any resemblance to "Watergate" -- is the biggest media lie since the phony "Whitewater scandal" crested during the Clinton presidency.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                
                
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                            May 31, 2013Consumers Set to Repeal a Big Part of the Health Care Law by Scott Rasmussen
Most stories about the president's health care law these days are about the challenges of implementation and the complexity of setting up exchanges. But that's not where the action is. What's more important is that insurance companies, benefits consultants and others are actually reading the 2,000-page law to see what it says.
May 30, 2013Unintended Consequences Often Bedevil Reformers By Michael Barone
A thoughtful reformer targets the traditional rules of an aging institution that has retarded progress in the past. Time to modernize those rules, the reformer says, and prevent obstruction in the future.
May 29, 2013Gas Myths By John Stossel
Plan to drive more this summer? Annoyed by the price of gas? Complaining that oil companies rip you off?